Not a bad follow up article, but Paul, quite frankly, you need to drill down into the numbers a bit. “Since 1982, the National Transportation Safety Board has investigated 21 accidents involving World War II-era bombers. They resulted in 23 deaths.”
The fatality numbers in the above quote might be factual, and are unfortunate, but are totally misleading. The actual numbers tell a completely different story.
The Living History Flight Experience program for B-17s involving paying passengers was started by the Collings Foundation in the early or mid-nineties, nearly 25 years ago. Since then and prior to the Collings’ accident there were no fatalities involving the B-17. Zero. The B-17 safety record speaks for itself. The B-17 has been operated safely by more than half a dozen museums and heritage groups. As such, it is, in my opinion, the safest aircraft in the Living History Flight Experience program. Apples should be compared to apples.